Weekly challenge- Why are you a minimalist? And 20 unneeded "items ".

This week I challenge you to think hard! Why are you a minimalist? Or why are you striving for minimalism? Or are you not? Maybe you just want to simplify a little bit and get your life and possessions more organized.

And for the second half of this week challenge. I want you to find 20 items you do not need. For the beginners this may be easy "I'll toss that third set of silverware and be done!" Or "Hooray this is the perfect time to purge 20 items of clothing that have been sitting in the back of the closet for 2 years untouched" but for some of the older members and more extremist this might be extremely difficult! I'm not sure I personally have 20 physical items I can get rid of so this is going to take a lot of careful consiseration!

Lets try (beginners AND those farther into the journey) to think outside the box! Don't just pick something simple. And if you can purge more than 20 that's great! Maybe you will count that silverware or clothing as one item each:)

Why am I keeping each item? Does it have a purpose? More than one use? How often do I need it? What does this item mean to me? If I were to lose it would I miss it or replace it? Could I simplify my life by changing something in it?

We would love to see what you come up with. A 1-20 written list! Photos of purged items! Etc.

Good luck everyone! I am looking forward to everyone's replies!!:)

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Not every week will be like this, I want to challenges to become more active again so I'm trying to engage the entire group. Please bear with me as I come up with weekly challenge that will hopefully involve more people. I will post on Saturdays and run through Fridays. If you have ideas please feel free to PMAN:)

Im not sure I can be a hardcore minimalist, but this group is very helpful with decluttering my house. It has helped me tell the difference between someone you just 'want' and true 'need'. I started purging for a few reasons.

1) we have baby #4 coming, so we will be 6 people living in a 3 bedroom house. There is no option to move or build on at this time, so i HAVE to make the space we have work!

2) I come from a long line of hoarders, and Im fighting mad not to become that.

3) Something that keeps me going: the less you have, the less you have to clean up, so the more time you have for things that are more important. I use to spend hours cleaning everyday i was off work just to maintain my household. I was stressed out and moody from the lack of help i got from the other people in the house creating the messes. The more i purge and reorganize, the less time i spend cleaning. It may keep me sane!

I have already purged my kitchen, but i still feel like i need to take more off the counters and make harder decisions. So to make this challenge more interesting for me, i will go back over it with a fine tooth comb and fine twenty MORE things i dont need from just my kitchen.

~ We love the traveling lifestyle, and being a family of 6 (+1/2) we don't have room for more than we need in the RV, or in the truck, or right now in this furnished studio!

~I hate visual clutter!

~I hate to clean, and the less we have, the less I have to clean up!

~To me people, and memories are more inportant than anything.

~I want to "things" I have to be truly meaningful, or useful 100% of the time.

Here is my list of 20 "items". I am going to take this slowly and add to it throughout this week, but so far this is what I have today:

1.) I finally threw 2 pairs of jeans in the trash. They are too faded, too many holes, and while they do fit "ok" right now, they won't fit my growing belly very shortly and I cannot see holding onto them much longer, and definately not until after baby is here.

2.) I deleted my debit card and bank account from my paypal account. This is help avoid temptation to buy things we do not need unless I sell something first to add the funds to the account. And since I don't trust the WWW to use my DC directly, that isn't an issue.

3.) I have a couple of newborn diaper covers that a "too girly" for a boy, so I will be listing those for sale this week sometime as well.

4.) While yes, we still technically own a house, it is for sale, and nothing in it is ours... We had a long talk last night and have decided to lower the listing price significantly so hopefully sell it faster.

5-20 to come. Thinking outside of the box is challenging! And I could literally list every physical item I own right now, so I'm doing the best I can here! I hope I can make it to 20!:)

enfilin- i am SURE that by moving you and boys into one room you must have left some household items behind. you had to of! we just sold, gifted or donated all of the furniture and other items in our house... that was ALOT of stuff.. more than i even thought we had. i think you get a pass. you are going through a lot!

evyanderic- i think going through the kitchen with a finetooh comb is an excellent idea! i cannot wait to see what you come up with:)

Are you doing cash only? I've done it a couple times when my spending has gotten out of control.

AFM: I want to be a minimalist because I know I "can" be. I've done it in the past. I felt good when I didn't have much to carry around. Its a little more challenging because back then it was only me and a very type A ex-dh. Now, I've got a million kids and a emotional attachment (forever) DH. But I know I can.

I like the idea of having less to clean up. I'm not there yet, but maybe if we have less toys the boys will help me more. I feel like they feel overwhelmed too sometimes.

I'll work on the 20 items. Just had a yard sale so we got rid of a lot. But there is more. We still haven't gone through DH's stuff. I think that will be 20 easy.

We are cash mainly. But we really don't spend much outside of bills and budgeted "feild trips" With the kids. My problem online is diapers. I have what I need now so removing the temptation keeps me where I need to be with my newborn stash:)
Our goal is to have our FFEF in less than 3 months and we will. We're good savers:)

Honestly, I'm just tired. I'm tired of consuming, of wanting, and just having stuff. I'm tired of cleaning, I'm tired of tripping, I'm tired of feeling overwhelmed, I'm tired of being frusterated, I'm tired of being snappy with my kids for not keeping their cloest clean.

I want peace. I believe that minimalism (perhaps not as extreme as some of you) will help give me that.

Big project that should have more than 20 items purged. I'm going to try the family closet! We are emptying mine out, purging clothes, moving the girls clothes in, moving their toys and few other things to their closet, and putting a lock on it. When they get grounded, all I have to do is lock the door. At night, lock the door. (I'm having problems with my ODD staying up late on school nights with toys she shouldn't have in her bed). Hopefully, I'll have pics Monday! Gotta get busy!

Ooh! Fun!
I am doing this because it is making our life better. My kids have a better life than I had growing up. To me, that doesn't mean more stuff.
Our house was filthy growing up. About once or twice a month we would have a cleaning day and the house would stay clean for maybe a day or two, then back to pig sty status. I followed that example with my car when I got one and with my apartment later but that is NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR MY KIDS. I just didn't know where to start. The idea of cleaning daily was nice but I didn't know how to get motivated to do the dishes unless every single dish in our house was dirty, for example. It has slowly gotten better since DS was born but it was a constant battle and exhausting, and I would fall behind when the PPD got the better or me.
Anyway, I've been on this board for just over 6 months and our house is clean and stays clean without it feeling like a never ending war. I still do the dishes when they are (almost) all dirty but it all fits in the dishwasher together so it's no big deal. We do a load of laundry every day and my kids always have clean clothes. I did not as a child.
It is also in line with what we are trying to do financially. It eliminates almost all unnecessary spending and we are on track to be debt free this year :) We are financially doing better on 30K/yr than my parents do on $110K/yr.
I just want to do better for my kids and for me, too. It's a good life, having less and focusing on what is important.

You're right, Holly, I left the furniture, and a bucket of stuff that I plan on purging at a later time.

My mom has all the kitchen gadgets we need, and more, so all I needed to bring were:-mattress/sheets-clothes/wardrobe/shoes-diapers-paleo food/supplements-course work/office supplies/laptop-make-up-ODS's teddy bear and 2 favorite bed time stories

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“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” - Oscar Wilde